How To Be A Ninja
by Dreakon
Summary: Naruto needs guidance so he gets some from the best Jounin in Konohagakure no Sato. See how he grows as he tries to accomplish his own goals and uphold the Way of the Leaf. [NO YAOI!]
1. To replace a mask

**Disclaimer: **Naruto? Don't own it. Original characters and storyline. Yep.

**Act 1: Way Of The Leaf**

Once somewhere deep in the Fire Country, there was a large ninja village plagued by a nine-tailed fox demon. It appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and wreaked havoc on the inhabitants of the ninja village. Its fur was a dark orange stained with streaks of crimson from its spilled blood. Its giant tails, rumored to cause tsunami's and crumble mountains, was busily warding off shinobi fighting to the death for their survival as well as their home village's. It was a fight that they couldn't win no matter what they tried. Every wound they made closed up almost immediately and with the demon's nearly limitless supply of chakra, it was a struggle just to get past his menacing aura. They send in their strongest, only to have them batted away like flies.

Then their leader appeared riding on a toad large as a building with a newborn baby boy in his arms. Konoha's 'Yellow Flash' narrowed his eyes when he looked at the havoc the demon wreaked. The respected ninja put the infant down, and started forming seals in a sequence many of his subordinates didn't recognize. Then, in the midst of the raging battle, the monster stopped in his tracks, staring wide eyed and terrified at the young shinobi with his hands in the final seal. Confusion followed. Then the demon's gigantic body shuddered, only to fall to the forest floor black as charcoal. Its body decayed almost immediately and the wind carried its remains in its currents.

The ninja celebrated, too busy to notice that their leader had fallen, and the newborn baby boy with a strange seal on his stomach. He didn't move nor cry but just laid there surveying the scene of battle as the first thing to behold in his short life. His virgin eyes looked curiously at the bodies littering the battlefield, many of them ripped apart and broken beyond recognition. He cooed. Then, the sight of the fallen hero himself. The fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, the Yondaime. The strongest Hokage ever produced by the village, the man that lived his life serving others was dead. He cooed again as he felt his tiny eyelids give way to gravity after the taxing changes his body had undergone.

**Chapter One:** To replace a mask

The elderly Sandaime Hokage looked down on the crib of the blaring infant. The boy had been found next to the body of his deceased successor and had been brought to him by a sole surviving ANBU out of a team of five. He sighed to himself as he and the ANBU stood alone in that very chamber staring at what was doomed to be a nasty reminder of tonight's events. Yondaime had given him strict orders which he were to follow to the letter. He didn't like any of them. First off the boy was never to know of his heritage. _Big mistake, but I have to honor this." _He thought to himself.

Second he was to be seen as the hero of Konoha, bearing the soul of the great nine-tailed fox demon Kyuubi. _"This will never work out, word has already been spread throughout the city that this child actually bears the demon's soul. They will see Kyuubi in him no matter what."_ It was obvious to him that the Yondaime had too much trust in the people of Konoha.

Thirdly the child was to be named Uzumaki Naruto. _"This name holds no meaning, but I guess it was made up to make sure that he will never find out who his family is…or rather, was."_ There would be complaints. He knew that for sure. Then there would be threats on the child's life if he did not take care of the matter properly. But there exists no means to properly rob an innocent child of his right to live. Besides, he had given his word that he would take care of the child as if he was his own. That was a big one to live up to, but at least old Sarutobi had the intellect to see the child as a person as opposed to the closed-mindedness he saw in so many of the Konoha youth today. He sighed again as he turned to give orders to the ANBU still standing at the doorway as if he was afraid to come any closer to the cursed infant. His body armor was cut up and he had blood on his hands and face. None of it was his. His wolf-mask did nothing to hide his messy brown hair now adorned with blood. He made a pitiful figure.

"Takemaru-kun" His voice carried a commanding tone. The ANBU's position shifted from uncomfortable to rigid.

"Please take little Naruto here to my house. Feed him with a bottle of warm milk and make sure he's warm and clothed for the evening. Then I want you to guard him until I return."

"Sandaime-sama…I don't-"

"Please Takemaru-kun, you're the only one right now I can trust with this matter. Emotions in the village are too heightened for anyone else to accept this task."

"…the seal might've backfired. The demon might break lose."

"That seal was designed by the Yondaime Hokage, a terribly gifted shinobi. Any seal he made is bound to hold, besides, if it breaks, do you really think that it would make a difference whether you're standing right next to him or across town?"

He saw truth in that statement and reluctantly accepted the task given to him. He took the baby in his arms, looked at his whisker marks, then at his sky-blue eyes, sighed, and teleported him to safety. Sarutobi nodded and left the room to take care of his people, his village, once again.

The following day, all the villagers and shinobi were gathered to hear what decisions had been made. First they were notified that the Sandaime had been reinstated as Hokage due to the Yondaime's untimely death. There were gasps and most people were shocked to hear about the rumors to be true. Then they were told about the demon's end and the seal on the infant named Uzumaki Naruto. He explained Yondaime's last wish for the people to see Naruto as a hero bearing a demon for the safety of all of Konoha. But ignorance clouded their minds for most of them thought it was a lie fabricated by Sandaime or that the Yondaime had no knowledge of what was supposed to happen to the demon-bearing child after the sealing. In their misery and lack of a scapegoat to blame their suffering, they turned their hatred towards an innocent boy, already cursing his name. Protests were heard and people were already demanding his death or exile. The Hokage didn't budge and instead he created a law for everyone who knew the truth. They were never to tell anyone of the younger generation about the demon sealed in Naruto. They were never to discuss about it neither openly nor in private. And above all, they were never to tell Naruto about it. Those who broke that law would be punished severely. The threat held and nobody undertook action against it, but it still didn't sit well. Sarutobi stressed that the main thing to focus on was regaining their power for they were severely weakened by the demon's attack. And so the matter was left unresolved and pushed into the back of their minds to fester.

As the Hokage returned home late that night, he immediately went to see Naruto. To his surprise Naruto was quietly sleeping in Takemaru's arms, who told the Hokage that he cried unless he was constantly held. It was a heartwarming sight to behold as Ookamishi Takemaru, someone who suffered more losses than anyone due to the demon's attack, accepted Naruto as a fragile creature that needed warmth and comfort.

He dismissed Takemaru, who gave Naruto a silent goodbye, and took the boy. Already he was planning out his future, as the Yondaime would've wanted him to.

"_Why this child Arashi? What bond does he share with you? A son perhaps? You always were excellent at keeping secrets, even from us experienced shinobi."_ He thought bitterly of the young and stubborn Hokage who sacrificed both his life and that of an unknown infant for the good of the village.

"_How am I going to explain this to you? Perhaps you will one day understand that its karma."_

He sighed as he placed Naruto in his crib with a frog plushy he picked up somewhere. He felt confident that he could raise the child as a competent shinobi. The boy's psyche would become a different problem. _"Let's just hope the villagers don't do him any harm."

* * *

_

Life was pretty boring for 20-year old Hatake Kakashi. He was a simple shinobi trying to live a simple life. To everybody in his village he was either the 'genius copy-nin' Hatake Kakashi or the prodigal son of the legendary 'White Fang', Hatake Sakumo, but when he was at home he felt like he was neither. At home he was simply Kakashi the ninja or Kakashi the bookworm or, more often than not, Kakashi the open pervert.

Said pervert was lazily strolling through Konoha's streets deeply engrossed in his reading. He passed a vendor selling ramen, undisturbed by the scuffle going on inside. In the back of his mind, a couple of words, colors and objects were carefully being taken in consideration, but mostly he was imagining the different colors, objects and how much of it went into who/what/where/how and when, described in his little pornographic novel. He couldn't help but chuckle as a light blush creeped onto his face. Meanwhile the other 5 of his operational brain that wasn't occupied already registered the colors yellow, blue and orange, noted the smell of ramen, sweat and stink bombs, and calculated the speed and trajectory of the orange-yellow-blue object. After calculating his own speed and the odds, that little 5 percent send a signal to his legs to sidestep. All this resulted in a little boy tripping over his own legs landing face-first into a bowl of freshly stolen ramen, and Kakashi chuckling again over a particularly perverted scene and, for a large part, still not noticing what the hell went on around him.

To his credit, said paragraph truly was a magnificent piece of ecchi writing that would later result in an award banned in 4 countries, making it one of the most controversial pieces of writing since 'Angst for the simple mind' by an unnamed shinobi who was rumored to ruthlessly mass-murder his entire family because he didn't feel loved enough.

It took a while for Kakashi's brain to label the recent events as 'semi-important', so he'd look up from his reading even if just for a bit.

"On your feet gaki! Luckily for us we have competent shinobi to keep tabs on you, you monster!"

Kakashi gave the fuming vendor a look that screamed 'hn? me?'. If said vendor did see it, he ignored it in favor of giving the boy a scolding that would put a sailor to shame. The boy didn't seem fazed in the slightest bit, and instead glared defiantly at the vendor. This enraged the man to the point that he raised his hand to strike the five-year old. His arm crashed into something made out of a material bordering on 'extremely hard'. It was a trained shinobi arm. Said trained shinobi arm's owner looked at the vendor with his exposed right-eye in a happy crinkle.

"You don't want to hit an innocent child would you?"

A vein popped on the vendor's forehead and he had a hard time controlling himself. It wasn't so much the fear of shinobi that 'encouraged' him to calm down, but more the reputation of the copy-nin who was well on his way in exceeding his late father's memory. Of course being a famous highly trained genius assassin allows you to be polite, courteous and a perfect gentleman while scaring the shit out of anyone.

Naruto's thoughts on the mystery man coming to his rescue were simply, _"so cool…"_

"This 'boy' needs to learn not to take food that doesn't belong to him. This is the gratitude he shows this village after-"

"The rule _is_ still in effect urite(merchant)-san."

The merchant gritted his teeth together while counting to ten. He closed his eyes and opened them to glare at the boy. He spoke through clenched teeth

"I expect you to pay for that bowl brat. You haven't heard the last of me."

Naruto smirked at him making it clear just who the victor was that day.

"How much did the food cost?" Kakashi inquired.

"More than he can aff-"

"Here's 20. Keep the change."

The vendor blinked and greedily stuffed the bills down his pockets. He gave Naruto one last glare before he stamped back to his stall to serve his waiting customers.

If Naruto thought he was in the clear, all that changed when Kakashi picked him up by the back of his shirt and hoisted him over his shoulder.

"Ano…What are you doing?" Naruto was dumbfounded. First the vendor refuses his money, and then even after he swiped a bowl of ramen from some other customer he dropped it. Not only did he almost got hit _again _after that but when that threat was gone, some mystery cool ninja just picked him up like stray litter without so much as telling his name or where they were going for that matter. Besides, he was _still _hungry. The ramen gods weren't on his side today. His stomach agreed with him as it let out an unsatisfied grumble that made Kakashi sweatdrop.

"Have you ever heard of Ichiraku Ramen?"

Naruto tried to turn his head to try and get a feel of the ninja's expression that went with that emotionless inquiry. He only succeeded in looking at the man's back and noticed he was reading.

He couldn't tell… Normally there was some kind of resentment against him in every person he'd meet like a cold glare or being pointedly ignored, but with this guy he just couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"_He's so cool…" _Naruto thought again.

"Oy, gaki. I asked you a question."

"Eh? Oh err…no I haven't."

"The owner likes me plus the ramen is decent if you like that kind of thing." He nonchalantly flipped a page with his thumb. Naruto was amazed at his strength. The man hadn't even broken a sweat all this time carrying him around.

Finally Ichiraku Ramen came into view, or from Naruto's vantage point, fresh ramen could be smelled a block away. The boy started salivating greedily.

When Kakashi entered the shop, he didn't know what to expect. He didn't know he had a miniature black hole on his back, nor did he know he was about to lose half of last month's paycheck in one visit. He didn't know but he sure as hell was about to find out.

30 minutes later---

Kakashi looked sadly at his empty wallet like it was ambushed and ravaged by nuke-nins.

"When I said I'd treat you I didn't mean you could eat me into debt."

"Fwah fa zhat? Fhebt? Fha zhat?" Naruto turned to a sighing Kakashi with half a bowl of ramen stuffed in his mouth and the other half hanging out of it.

"Please stop eating."

Naruto slurped up the remaining noodles and jumped off his eat revitalized.

"That hit the spot!" He said as he patted his belly. Suddenly he gave the ramen chef Teuchi a serious look.

"You…make the best ramen in the village. From now on I am your loyal customer!"

Teuchi, his daughter Ayame and Kakashi all looked at the kneeling five-year old with mixed feelings, torn between gratitude and amusement. For a five-year old orphan he was quite friendly with strangers. Not to mention expressive.

"Hey kid…"

Naruto looked up at Kakashi who was busy gazing at a bird outside of the shop.

"What is it mister?"

"We're going." He answered as he stood up and walked out of the shop after greeting the owner and his love-struck daughter. Naruto trailed behind him like a faithful puppy.

"Where are we going?" he asked him. "Are you gonna teach me to be cool like you?"

"We're going to see the Hokage."

Naruto simply nodded and continued following Kakashi, wondering what the old man wanted from him.

* * *

Konoha had enjoyed a long-lasting peaceful time. This was partially due to the fact that the Sandaime was an excellent Hokage, and partially due to the talented shinobi born these days in the village of the Hidden Leaf. This little fact kept the Sandaime quite busy most of the time, but there were times when he shoved aside work, damned the consequences to hell and took the afternoon off. Usually that would be provoked by him spying on everybody and nobody in particular in his glass ball. This afternoon however he was busily spying on one of his most favorite persons in the village. Sometimes he spied on him out of worry, but fact remained that Uzumaki Naruto's antics were amusing half the time and downright hilarious mostly. 

His accidental meeting with Hatake Kakashi drew chuckles from the elder. Those two were probably two persons completely on the other side of each other's spectrum. They differed like night and day, and yet he could still see a connection beneath all their layers. After all, Naruto needed someone to look up to, and Kakashi needed someone. Period. Before he decided what he thought needed to be done, his mind was already going over the particulars of his evil plan. Being the most powerful and influential shinobi in the village was important work, but times like these it was a position he was both grateful for and abused the hell out of.

"Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi looked up from his musing to see his assistant standing nervously by the door. He couldn't help but wonder what the nervousness would be for, until he remembered who he expected any moment.

"Hatake and Uzumaki?" the assistant nodded. "Send them in." he said and dismissed his assistant with a lazy wave. Said assistant happily complied and resisted the urge to make warding-off signs at the demon child when he backed away cautiously.

Kakashi was reading his book; nothing else could really be expected from him, while Naruto nervously shifted from one leg to the other occasionally glancing at Kakashi. The Hokage gave them both a warm smile that instantly put Naruto at ease. If the Hokage was mad at him he wouldn't be smiling anyway.

"Naruto-kun, would you mind waiting in the hallway for a minute?" The boy nodded and went out the office. The Hokage turned to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-kun…"

"Hokage-sama?" He adjusted his footing since he was probably in for a long lecture.

"How long have you been a jounin?"

"Probably 6 or 7 years Hokage-sama."

"When do you plan on leading your own group of genin?"

"To be honest, I have no particular need of that."

"Ah but it's customary isn't it?"

"Hai…" Kakashi answered narrowing his eye. He didn't like the direction this conversation was taking.

"So you agree?"

"Hai I agree its custom-"

"I was hoping you'd change your mind" The Hokage said with a smile and an amused twinkle in his eye.

"Wow hold on I didn't change anything I don't want to teach a bunch of idiot kids trying to playing ninja."

"Hmm I see…" Kakashi sweat dropped.

"_Is he demented or something? One moment it seems like he'll do anything to persuade me to take a genin team and the next he's brushing it aside like it's nothing."_

"I have to say I agree with you, having a bunch of rookie ninja under your wing and not only teach them the way of the shinobi but help them grow too would be more troublesome then, say, just looking out occasionally for one boy."

"_Okay point taken old man, now let's hear it."_

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"…fine."

A small smile played across the Hokage's lips. His plan was unfolding neatly, just the way he liked it. The fact that Kakashi hadn't even resisted intrigued him as well.

"That doesn't mean that I've given up on you teaching. Consider this…training for the near future."

"Hai Hokage-sama."

Sandaime stood up and walked over to the door. Kakashi eyed him warily. When the elder peeked out of the door, he saw a mischievous Naruto jump back in surprise. Clearly the boy was eavesdropping, but the confused look on his face gave away what he had overheard.

"Could you come in for a minute Naruto-kun."

He nodded sheepishly and entered the Hokage's office once more. This time he noticed the pictures of all the previous Hokage's hanging behind the Hokage. They all looked pretty cool. Even the old Sandaime's picture. Kakashi was once again busy skimping the pages of his novel, but he kept sneaking glances at Naruto when he thought the boy wasn't looking. Naruto inwardly noted that these glances weren't the usual cold and distant ones but instead they were that of interest.

"First let me introduce you to one of Konoha's best ninjas, Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi turned to Naruto with his eye closed in a happy crinkle. He gave the boy a 'Hey what's up kid.' And a lazy wave that immediately brought a big smile to Naruto's face.

"Ne…are you going to be my friend?"

Kakashi chuckled and crouched to eye-level with Naruto. "Sure I'll be your friend. And I'll look out for you as much as I can too."

"Yoshi!" Naruto yelled as he jumped in the air in victory. I have a cool ninja friend, now everybody's gonna want to play with me!

Kakashi sweatdropped and the Hokage chuckled at Naruto's antics. Suddenly both turned serious as the Hokage tried to get Naruto's attention.

"Naruto, Kakashi will be checking up on you once or twice every month. If things go well maybe we can increase the time you two spend together. Other than that he's still a ninja of Konoha and he still has his missions to do so you can't expect him to take care of you."

"I understand Hokage Oji-san. The village needs the money from these missions right? That's why I'm going to be a ninja too! And I'm going to be greater than the greatest." The bright boy answered with boundless enthusiasm.

"Is that so?" Kakashi asked him. "Do you know that the strongest ninja in the village is the Hokage?"

The boy swiveled his head around in pure shock and pointed accusingly at Saindaime.

"If you're supposed to be the best ninja in the village then I'm definitely going to be stronger than you."

Sarutobi could only smile as the boy declared his goal. He took off his hat and stared at it for a while seemingly lost in memories.

"If you do intend to surpass me…then you'll need to work hard Naruto-kun. I don't let just anyone take this hat from me."

Naruto only smiled in complete self-confidence.

* * *

Kakashi thought it would be a good idea to start off their first day together by getting to know each other better. He opted for a stroll around the village. Naruto opted for ramen. Then he suggested for them to maybe hang out at one of the many practice areas so they could talk and maybe get in some basic training for Naruto, since he wasn't familiar with the ways of the ninja yet. Naruto explained that they could do all that over a steaming bowl of ramen. Kakashi then tried to calmly explain that ramen isn't the best nutritious food for a boy Naruto's age to have. Naruto then very calmly suggested for Kakashi where exactly he could stick his nutritious food; a remark that almost made Kakashi drop his book. This was when Kakashi friendly advised Naruto to do some gruesome training exercises as a way of punishing him for his potty-mouth and him being fresh with his elder. That is how Naruto came to the conclusion that random cool-looking shinobi buying you ramen weren't always the friendly and fun-loving ones he'd always imagined them to be. 

"73, 74, 75, 76." The boy grunted as he did his push-ups. Yes he would make sure to stay away from _those _types in the future. A tiny dark corner of his tired mind was already busy calculating the elaborate prank he was going to play on his tormenter.

"That's good Naruto only 924 to go you can do it." Kakashi remarked lazily not really paying attention to the fuming child.

"79, 80, 81, you're, huff, mean, 82, huff." Naruto tried to inform him between counts.

"Yeah, yeah keep pushing." Kakashi waved him off.

Naruto stopped and glared at him accusingly. Kakashi's eye only wavered slightly before he resumed his reading.

"How is this going to make me stronger?"

"Well first off it's helping you to get stronger arms. The stronger your arms are the harder you can hit, throw shuriken and all that. With stronger arms you can also support your bodyweight better on your hands and that's vital for a lot of Taijutsu."

Naruto didn't get it.

"Look, just do 18 more and I'll take you out for ramen okay?"

"Why?" dead-panned Naruto. This time Kakashi looked at him in surprise.

"Why do you help me? Everybody else but old man Hokage always hates me. Nobody talks to me and if they do…they're not nice to me…"

The mask Naruto wore for over a year now broke down for the first time since he put it up. Always he was hated. Never did anybody ever care about him enough to say a kind word to him or help him up when he fell. He was alone. He's always been alone as far as he knew. Now that it looked like there was someone besides old man Hokage who treated him like he always wanted to, he couldn't help but feel something wasn't right. He didn't want to lose what he had gained because his five-year old mind couldn't yet accept such a loss. His mask cracked and tears started rolling over his cheeks. Kakashi didn't know what to make of it, so he tried to tell him whatever he could about the truth of the matter without going against Hokage orders.

"Look Naruto…there's something about you that reminds people of a terrible time that we had in Konoha five years ago."

"Does it have to do with me not having one of those mothers or fathers I hear about?"

Kakashi grimaced. He couldn't even imagine being an orphan with everybody you meet hating you and nobody there to have even the slightest of a connection with. Growing up without a mother or father…life could be so cruel, he mused.

"For a large part, yes." he sighed. There wasn't anything he could think of to make Naruto feel better. He never was very good at consoling.

"People respect strong ninja like you right? Like that vendor does?"

"Yes they do…"

"So if I become a strong Hokage, will they respect me?"

"I guess so…"

"Then," Naruto sniffed and wiped his nose with his arm. "I'll be the strongest Hokage that ever lived." He said determined.

"And when I become Hokage, I'll make sure nobody gets hated in the village. Nobody will treat anyone like they treat me when I'm Hokage!"

Kakashi smiled hearing that fiery statement. It almost brought a tear to his eye. He placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder that made the boy look up in surprise and stop his crying.

"Even I can't do anything about you being hated, but I believe you can do it if you really want it."

Naruto smiled a true smile.

"But I _can_ help you with the way people look at you."

"Huh?" was the startled reaction from the boy. "How?"

Kakashi rummaged in his backpack and pulled out a black cloth.

"With this." He said as he held it out "Put it on."

Naruto did so and noticed, upon further inspection, that it was a facemask almost identical to the one Kakashi was wearing now. When the cloth stretched over his mouth and nose he felt at it in awed wonder. Did he look as cool as Kakashi did now? Kakashi looked at the Naruto's face and showed his satisfaction in the fact that it effectively hid the whisker-marks on his face. He pulled out a small piece of mirror to show Naruto what he looked like, an action that was rewarded with a loud scream of joy from Naruto.

"I'm SO COOL!" he screamed bouncing all over the place before freezing dead in his tracks with shock written all over what was left to be seen of his face.

"How am I going to eat ramen now?" he murmured just loud enough for Kakashi to hear.

"Fufufufu, I have a special technique for that my young subordinate." Kakashi chuckled as he started walking off.

"What's a suportinut? Hey wait for me!" Naruto yelled after him following him to Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

A/N 

Well...that's the prologue to my new fanfic. It's going to be semi-similar to the original storyline with some changes. I'll try to keep Naruto as canon as I can because I like him like that, but expect some OOC-ness. Kakashi is, for the most part, only going to be there as a rolemodel for Naruto. I believe it's against Kakashi's nature to really open up to anyone so that won't happen anytime soon.

Stick with me on this one, I have big plans for this fic. Love it or hate it, at the very least Read & Review.


	2. Babysteps on your way to greatness

**disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.**  
**

**Chapter Two:** Baby-steps on your way to greatness

Konohagakure no Sato was a large village that spanned several miles in diameter. Inside the village walls they had everything from regular housing to highly deadly forests with wild animals and plant life. The village was, like any other ninja village, dependant on their own shinobi to bring in the money that it needed to sustain itself. That means that these ninja, trained from childbirth to grow up to be skilled assassins, have to be at the top of their game throughout their entire lifespan. Some may mistake this way of life as being cruel and unsuited for children. The belief for most ninja however, was that it was their duty to live and die protecting their village. They had a duty to fulfill and by getting stronger they were fulfilling it.

These principles of duty and honor were something Kakashi was trying to instill in Naruto, but the boy cared only for recognition.

"Kakashi-san, to be Hokage is to have strength isn't it?" the 7-year old asked his caretaker.

They were taking their time walking to a training ground Kakashi wanted to use to show Naruto something new. They two of them liked discussing many issues with each other and between Kakashi's self-righteousness and Naruto's tendency to question his every word; there were a lot of issues to discuss. Yet for all their bickering, it was worth it just for Naruto to have someone to talk to when he felt things were getting complicated and Kakashi found out he didn't mind taking care of some kid after all. Naruto improved with leaps and bounds as it turned out. All he needed was just a little nudge in the right direction. Kakashi as well as the Hokage were immensely pleased with the boy. _"Now if only,"_ he mused _"I could get him to give up that horrifying fascination with all things orange."_

"Huh? Naked Women?" Naruto yelled out suddenly.

"What! Where?" Kakashi looked around frantically trying to get a glimpse of those divine perky breasts leading down to a narrow waist and wide...

Naruto snickered. There was nothing that drew Kakashi's attention faster than slipping in the words nude and women in a conversation. Kakashi sighed and picked up where Naruto left off.

"Yes but it isn't just strength. It's the strength you show to the outside as the representative of the village, as well as the power to protect it at any cost. It gives you responsibility beyond responsibility as the Hokage is the heart and the soul of the village. He must know everything and do whatever he can to protect the village and its people at all times and anytime."

That drew a long pause as Naruto took in the words.

"You exaggerate Kakashi-san."

The jounin chuckled. They came up to a fence around the perimeter of the training ground. It had a sign on it telling people that whatever it was they were looking for, it was definitely not here and even if it was, they were supposed to look for another one because the sign would be damned if it was going to let unauthorized people pass it. Of course a part of being ninja is the ability to shrug off warning signs either manifested by a medium of some kind or mental ones. Kakashi casually decided to ignore the sign and any other impression the barb-wired fence might have given him that he was in fact not welcome in any kind. Naruto followed suit and soon thereafter the both of them were stealthily making their way through the thick canopy of forest.

When they reached a clearing, Kakashi slowed down, crouched and motioned for Naruto to do the same. They crept closer until they could make out the voices ringing throughout the clearing. The first thing Naruto noticed was how much the two persons looked alike. Clearly they had some sort of blood-relation to each other. He'd say brothers or cousins because of the simple fact that one of them looked at about his age and the other significantly older, but not by that much. The smaller one that looked his age had a familiar crest on his back. He remembered what the crest stood for and also remembered what it lacked. It was just a four-point shuriken away from being Konoha's Military Police Corpse's logo. He knew because he'd spent an awful lot of time there a year ago when he first encountered the wondrous world of the elaborate prank. As his skills grew over time he learned well enough to cover all signs of his involvement resulting in him spending less time in the Konoha PD's holding cell for the juvenile delinquent. What threw him off that day however was the fact that there was actually a bunch of kids wearing that dreaded logo like it…belonged to some clan or something.

"Cop-lovers…" he muttered under his breath making Kakashi raise an eyebrow at him in wonder. In that fraction of a second that Kakashi diverted his attention, unknown to both of them, the older of the boys' ear twitched.

---

Uchiha Itachi liked things to go very simple. He liked it when a very complicated enemy fell into his very simple and straightforward traps. He liked it when he could say one thing and expect someone else to say exactly what he expected them to say. He was very keen on anticipating the next move. He was always aware of the next move made, and to make. What he absolutely despised were surprises. So how surprised was he when he sensed someone at the edge of the training field; _his_ training field, all this time sitting there unnoticed, muttering to another person even _better_concealed than the previous one. He was fuming. They had the audacity to enter _his_ field, and not even have the common decency of paying attention to his godlike skill. This was wrong. This was unexpected. This was damn near blasphemy. He slipped his hands into the pouch on his back and he took out 9 kunai, all the while not missing a beat on his explanation to his little brother on the basics of kunai and shuriken handling. His _revised _basics on kunai and shuriken handling.

"So you see Sasuke, if you measure wind resistance, gravity and kinetic force on the object you throw and apply the same principle on the object you throw to intercept the previous thrown one's path, all you need to do is balance the two out until you're satisfied with the initial and the follow-up throw's speed and trajectory."

Next to him his kid brother Sasuke nodded dolefully praying to every deity he knew for him not to end up as depressingly boring as his big brother.

"So to make a long story short; look closely ototo…"

Itachi jumped high in the air as he threw a kunai up at the end of his jump. Then he flipped backwards mid-air and lightning fast threw two kunai from his left hand and 4 from his right. Then he threw one kunai from his left to his right, making him hold a kunai in each hand, after which he completed his flip and let the two fly to collide with two other kunai. Before he landed he caught the one he threw in the air earlier and threw it in the bushes.

He heard a gasp from his little brother but stared intently at the bushes he threw the kunai in, ignoring the 8 targets that his kunai struck.

"These grounds are for Konoha MP Personnel and Uchiha only." He spoke in a clear voice still in his wary crouch. "I strongly advise you to leave."

A chuckle was heard from the bushes Itachi threw at. A tall ninja stepped out brushing a few stray leafs out of his hair. The ninja tossed Itachi back his kunai, earning him a fierce glare from the Uchiha.

"You should tell the other one to come out too."

Kakashi's eye crinkled happily as his partner-in-crime came out of the bushes cursing. There was a trail of blood going from his forehead that ran down the bridge of his nose. Itachi's aim was clearly impeccable.

"That arm of yours is lethal Itachi-san"

Itachi stood upright in a casual manner.

"What is your business here Hatake-san?"

"Oh, no business," Kakashi held up his hands in defense. "Just a little…mind-stimulation for my young charge over there." Naruto gave a lazy two-finger wave and proceeded to inspect all the targets carefully, ignoring Sasuke's growing frown.

"I was going to use this exercise as motivation for him to work on his skill with shuriken, as he didn't see the point in throwing them at your target when they can be easily dodged or parried."

Itachi's cool façade never wavered as he carefully agreed with Kakashi. Meanwhile he was sizing the jounin and the boy up. After much contemplating, he turned to Naruto, who quirked his eyebrow at him.

"Boy. You are with Hatake-san?" his voice was emotionless and Naruto had a hard time picking up any underlying messages like Kakashi taught him to.

"Hai."

"You are in training to be a shinobi correct?"

"Hai."

Itachi walked over to Naruto who became alarmed very quickly. He tensed when Itachi tossed him his kunai and Itachi pointed his finger at a target.

"Show me." Another emotionless inquiry. Naruto looked over to Kakashi, who could only shrug in response, so he figured the sensible thing to do was just comply.

He threw the kunai and it sailed through the air in a straight path for 10 meters until it landed on the target a few inches below Itachi's kunai. If Itachi was impressed, he didn't show it. Kakashi chuckled and motioned for Naruto to come to him. The grinning blonde happily let his hair get tussled by Kakashi, proud of his own achievement.

"Hatake-san." Kakashi let his lazy eye glance in Itachi's direction briefly before responding. "I hope you plan on respecting the rules next time. After all, where would we be as a society without rules, correct?"

Kakashi chuckled and waved it off. "Rules are important I agree…" He replied as he trailed off. Sasuke's frown was barely holding as he fought back a snicker. Naruto looked impassively at the Uchiha brothers not bothered by his companion's antics.

"_He's confident about himself. Maybe the boy is stronger than Sasuke already. Would a friendly rivalry help him grow faster? Maybe he needs a challenge instead of a rolemodel."_ Itachi pondered to himself as he glanced between the two boys. Finally, seemingly after he made up his mind, he turned to Sasuke.

"It seems this boy is more skilled than you Sasuke. Maybe you haven't been training enough…" Sasuke was about to interject when Itachi continued. "Let's go, father is waiting."

Sasuke's face screwed up in shock. Itachi actually thought more of a complete stranger than he thought of his own little brother. This was wrong. The young Uchiha was seething. _"I'll make him respect me! There's no way I'm gonna be outdone by a bastard like him!"_

"Aniki! Watch this!" he shouted as he gripped two kunai he plucked from a few targets. Itachi lifted an eyebrow as an only sign of amusement.

With a dramatic shout, he let both kunai fly into opposite directions each landing on a target, but clearly missing the center. Sasuke smiled proudly at his older brother, only to see him turn his back on him and walk away as if nothing happened.

"Nice shot, but you missed the bullseye." Naruto casually remarked. Sasuke swung around with his nostrils flaring. How dare this no-talent little bastard comment on how an Uchiha throws his kunai, on Uchiha training grounds nonetheless.

"I want BOTH of you out of here within the next 30 minutes!" He screamed at both Jounin and student. Both of them grinned sheepishly as they scratched the back of their necks.

Sasuke then turned on his heel and stomped off after his brother.

"Wow…" Kakashi finally uttered after a long silence.

"Yeah…" Naruto wholeheartedly agreed.

"That kid needs professional help…" Kakashi concluded.

"I know, his aim was waaay off." Naruto said making Kakashi sweatdrop.

"Yeah um…so that's today's lesson."

"What? But you didn't teach me anything!"

"Yes I did." Kakashi dead-panned, already skimming through his book again.

"No you…oh wait a sec…I know what you're trying to tell me! Today's lesson was…obey the rules…showing off may make you some unwanted enemies and…"

Kakashi nodded sagely as Naruto trailed off, not really giving a damn what he was saying or even if what he said was remotely true.

"_Yep," _he thought to himself. _"Teaching is so easy…"_

---

_In a world with an orange sky and green meadows, where ramen portions were served in bulk by smiling ramen-gods with mighty beards, a blond blue-eyed boy frolicked with a pack of docile foxes. Raindrops tasted like milk with honey, and perverts were punished periodically by doing manual labor, guarded by well endowed bikini wearing kunoichi. Indeed all was good and promising in Narutoverse where every jutsu taught was as easy as taking a breath. The previous mentioned blonde wore a large white hat that an old man was constantly picking up and offering back to him whenever he dropped it. On his face, an almost equally large and abnormal grin seemed permanently stuck there. He skipped all the way over to his favorite ramen stand where Ramen-sama happily accepted his voucher for the 'all the ramen you can eat in a lifetime' special. The bowl Ramen-sama dropped on the counter was big enough for the blond to eat, sleep and raise a family in. He resisted the urge to dive into it, thought 'what the hell', swatted the old man away from his precious bowl with his Hokage-hat, and dove in head-first. It was the best ramen he could ever have wished for. Ramen-sama was smiling gently at him and raised a colossal fist to knock him on his head._

"_Odd…why does my head sound like wood?"_

_Ramen-sama scowled and knocked on the poor boy's head again._

"_Is Ramen-sama displeased? Have I not honored him like I should?"_

_Just before the boy contemplated having his pervert-slave army build Ramen-sama a grand shrine, said deity opened his mouth and spoke in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Kakashi's, "Oi Naruto, wake up!"_

_Naruto gave Ramen-sama his most gentle and understanding smile, which he saved for the demented, the senile and Hokage oji-san._

"_Did somebody forget to take his medicine today?"_

_He patted the giant on his arm._

"_Don't worry big boy, we'll get you up to speed right after I finish this masterpiece of a meal and then-"_

"Oi gaki, wake the hell up will you!"

A blurry-looking Kakashi looked down on Naruto with annoyance written all over his face.

"Dammit Naruto you were supposed to meet me an hour ago! Don't you have a clock?"

Naruto jumped up and mock-saluted Kakashi.

"My apologies sir! Tardiness is unforgivable!" Naruto dropped his arm and gave Kakashi a cruel smile. The jounin scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Yeah, yeah point taken." Kakashi stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Next time you miss an appointment with me though you can forget about me teaching you a jutsu…"

One of the things that made Naruto tolerate Kakashi was the promise of the jutsu Kakashi would learn him. When he would, it would mean that Kakashi deemed their time together over and that meant that they would no longer be teacher and student…of sorts. Neither of them never openly admitted their student-teacher relationship because of both of them seeing it as bad for their reputations. But that didn't mean that they wouldn't work. Naruto worked hard every day to meet Kakashi's standards, and often rose above them, but he wanted to feel that he accomplished something. He wanted some form of closure in this chapter of his life. He wanted Kakashi to acknowledge him as a ninja before he'd go to the academy. But more than anything, he wanted to learn that jutsu. Just one jutsu, that's all he'd need. The thought of using ninja magic made him giddy with anticipation and frustrated at times. Kakashi knew that and effectively used it as blackmail, also a way of 'looking underneath the underneath' as he liked to say.

"So what's the rush? Normally when I'm an hour late, you don't show up for two hours after that."

"Yeah well I had to tell you that I'll be away on another mission for a long while and before you ask I can't tell you about it, it's classified."

Naruto groggily wiped the grime from his eyes and gave Kakashi a big yawn in response.

"So I'd like to teach you a trick before I go."

"A jutsu?" Naruto's eyes shined with new hope. Would today be the day of his unofficial graduation?

"Well…it's definitely as useful as a jutsu but I wouldn't exactly call it that. I'm going to teach you a little more about chakra. Have you studied on how to mold chakra yet?"

Naruto scoffed at that thinking back on how he tried to dig up the information to do that from various, non-compliant and hostile sources.

"Yeah I have, no thanks to you…" Naruto muttered.

He found out that when Kakashi said for him to 'study', it meant that he'd usually give Naruto a subject for him to find any and as much information about as he could. "An important part of being a real shinobi is gathering info to the best of your abilities," Kakashi'd tell him one day. "If you can't do something as easy as asking around for a little bit of info, then how are you going to gather it when you're on a real mission? Or worse, how do you expect to become a shinobi in the first place?"

Naruto muttered some more about the unfairness that was Kakashi and his general aloofness. Kakashi didn't seem to mind. He didn't seem to pay any attention either. Naruto squinted at Kakashi who had his back turned to the boy. His posture shook with perverted chuckling and Naruto considered the possibility of Kakashi doing something perverted.

That simply would not do.

"Oi!" He yelled as he whacked Kakashi over the head. "Chakra molding, remember?"

"Right…" Kakashi sheepishly rubbed the growing bump on the back of his head as he skillfully slipped his book back into his pouch.

"So as I was saying, jutsu take chakra to perform and chakra needs to be molded. What you need to know too is that certain jutsu take a certain amount of chakra. Anymore or less and the jutsu will backfire and probably blow up in your face. You need to learn how to control the amount of chakra you're molding and the amount you put into your jutsu."

"But how do I learn to do that without getting hurt? And what's that trick you were going to show me?"

Kakashi's eye crinkled happily.

"I would've explained it to you thoroughly but…I'm probably already late for the mission. If this was anything above B-rank I'd be in serious trouble right now…anyway I don't have the time to teach you, so I wrote the exercise and some pointers down for you. If you can master it before I return I'll treat you to ramen."

"YOSH!" Naruto yelled and jumped up and down the bed, catching the scroll Kakashi threw him.

"Uh…but when are you coming back?"

"Fufufu…" Kakashi's face was suddenly hidden by evil shadows, making Naruto shudder a bit. "If I told you…what would motivate you to work hard?"

Kakashi evil chuckling went on for a bit making Naruto sweatdrop.

"Kakashi-san…what's with the evil laugh…"

Kakashi merely chuckled some more before he poofed into nothingness. Naruto could only stare at the scroll he got.

"…so weird…"

---

Three hours later, the hyperactive ninja found himself leaning against a tree in a nice little training ground he found a while back. He gazed at the scroll titled "Kakashi-sensei's 'How 2 Be a Ninja' Guidelines: Basics of Chakra Control – Tree Walking", and found himself grinning under his mask. It was perfect. He had pranks lying on a dusty shelf that he could finally realize with this skill under his belt. The effects would be devastating. Nobody would ever know he was the culprit. His grin became wider and he was torn between giggling in glee and cackling like the evil genius he was.

After he calmed down a bit, he shifted his head upwards to glare at the bark. Last time he only made it 6 feet up. He knew exactly what he had to do, and found himself struggling with it. In theory it wasn't that hard to do. Mold chakra on the bottom of his feet, adjust to the right amount so it would stick and then keep it there. The molding part wasn't _that_ difficult. Gathering it at his feet was a pain in the ass, and constantly figuring out how much he needed to adjust to his own weight was damn near impossible. If he was anything less than obsessed, he probably would've called it a day then and there, but instead he just got up and prepared to storm his nemesis for the umpteenth time.

He concentrated hard; molding the chakra he figured he was going to use, then he took a running start and jumped at the tree. He made it up about the same length he was and managed to take another step as a desperation move. He felt he couldn't keep himself steady if he continued, slashed the bark and pushed off from the tree to land in a neat crouch next to it.

"_Six-and a half feet…damnit…"_

---

It had been two months since he last saw the boy and he still drove him crazy. He could never forget that taunting look in the other boy's eyes when he tried to show him up and just couldn't. It wasn't even about is he missed the targets or not, the fact that the kid wasn't even the slightest impressed by him was more upsetting than he wanted it to be. In a way it reminded him of his older brother, and he couldn't handle that. Nobody his age should have the right to look down on him. He'd show that little bastard what he was made of. He'd take those damn kunai and shove 'em up his nostrils if he had to but damnit the kid would smell his own defeat if he ever got his hands on him again.

He came into the kitchen that morning with annoyance written all over his face. His mother was practically dancing from stove to sink and back. She skillfully whipped a couple of pancakes on his plate. He sat down next to his father and brother, the latter doing his best to ignore the former by obsessively focusing on evening out the amount of syrup he poured over his breakfast.

"I know that face," He heard his mother say in a sing-song voice. "Are you brooding Sasuke-chan?"

He blushed slightly but he kept a straight face. He didn't want his cheery mother to ruin a perfectly good brooding-streak. His father looked at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"What is wrong Sasuke?"

At this everybody but Itachi looked at the elder Uchiha in confusion. It wasn't common he'd show interest in his youngest son, but when he did it must be important. He nodded to Sasuke signaling him to explain.

"Well…a few months ago I met a boy…"

Itachi would've snickered if he was anything less then extremely perceptive. He could almost _taste_ his father's jaw clenching along with his fists. Those were _not_ words you'd want to hear from your son.

"He made fun of my shuriken-throwing when he wasn't that great at it himself. I think…I hate him."

His visibly relieved father led out a tired sigh that his mother answered with a fierce glare.

"Oh…uhm… right. Hate is a strong word Sasuke. Maybe you felt he dishonored you? Maybe this…what's his name?"

To Sasuke's surprise Itachi answered for him, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Both of his parents froze badly at the mention of that name. Itachi quirked his eyebrow at them. Obviously there was something about that boy, judging from their reaction. They looked as if the Kyuubi would break out of all seven layers of hell and wreak havoc in Konoha. He heard his mother mumble, "Did…did he hurt you Sasuke-chan?"

Sasuke seemed insulted at the thought because he snarled a fierce no out of the corner of his mouth. When the boy noticed his father was trembling as much as his mother's voice was, he became worried. Really who was this Naruto kid that he could make them shake with fear at the mere mention of his name.

"Who else was with him?"

Again Itachi answered for Sasuke, "Hatake Kakashi."

"The copy-ninja…"

One could almost see the gears turning inside the head of the elder Uchiha.

"This boy interests you father?" Itachi asked politely.

"Hatake Kakashi is not just some shinobi. For him to show interest in anything besides himself is astounding enough, but when you consider that boy…"

"Is he important?" Sasuke asked

His father locked his eyes with Sasuke's. He fidgeted under the fierce gaze of his father's knowing eyes.

"That boy is trouble Sasuke. I want you to leave him alone."

"But father he-"

"I mean what I said Sasuke." His father cut him off, leaving Sasuke moping with a nasty scowl on his face.

Itachi gazed at both brother and father knowingly before taking a bite from his mother's pancakes. At this, the head of their household stood up and excused himself to perform his duties for the village. Sasuke was still prodding his breakfast with his fork when Itachi cleared out his own plate and said his goodbyes as well. He glanced back at Sasuke with a soft expression on his face.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do ototo." He warned his younger brother before finally setting off as well.

If Sasuke heard it, he didn't acknowledge it. He spend the rest of his morning brooding before he made a decision.

---

It was midday and the sun leaned down on peaceful Konoha. Most would call it a perfect day to take some time off and spent it with family or friends. Others would argue that days like this is perfect training weather, even though they felt pretty much the same way about rain, snow, hail and any other weather condition they'd chalk up as perfect. For Naruto, it was simply hell. The weather didn't even matter anymore. Not only was this exercise draining as hell, he wasn't even close to mastering it. He looked at his hand thoughtfully and started flexing it.

"_I'm getting stronger everyday. I can feel it, but is it really enough for me to say I can master this? I know I can do it, but for some reason I can't get there. What's wrong with my body?"_

He contemplated with himself. Over the course of the morning, he realized that the way he has leaned to mold and control his chakra didn't come naturally or even remotely doable for him.

"_What is it that I'm doing wrong? There's still a way for me to improve but I need to figure out how…"_

As Naruto lay in the grass of the clearing, he didn't notice the person sneaking up on him. From behind a tree, Sasuke was watching him. He spent all morning looking for the blonde, but now that he found him…he didn't know what he wanted. What was it exactly that he was going to ask him? 'Hi you're the kid that everyone says is trouble why is that?' isn't exactly much of an introduction, so he decided to do it the polite way. After all, if you wanted to get to know somebody, you should give your name first. He bravely stepped into the clearing and noticed the infamous blonde lying on his back taking in deep breaths. The tree he was lying in front of was ridden with slash marks made from the kunai in his hand.

"ahem!"

Naruto looked up from his musing to find a dark-haired boy, doing his best to seem casual, stare at him. He blinked trying to remember that face.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke. I assume you must be Uzumaki Naruto."

"Ehh…right."

"…"

"…"

They looked at each other uncertain of what move should be made right now.

"So…" Sasuke drawled after a long pause. "…what exactly is it what you have been doing to that tree?"

"…I marked it."

"I can see that…"

"…"

"…"

"How do you know my name anyway?" A still perplexed Naruto managed to ask.

"My father told me your name."

"Oh…and who is he supposed to be, some kind of big-shot that knows everybody?"

"I suppose…he is the head of the Military Police Corps."

Naruto's eyes darkened at the mention of the chief of police.

"Fugaku…" he growled. Sasuke didn't know what was more surprising, the fact that Naruto knew his father, or the fact that the two seemed to have a history. A bad one judging from Naruto's reaction.

"Wait a minute…you're the kid from two months ago aren't you? What do you want with me or…should I ask what your _father_ wants with me?"

"My father advised me to stay away from you…" Naruto's eyes flashed with grief before they became unreadable again. "…but you have insulted my honor. As an Uchiha I can't let that go unpunished."

That remark set something off in Naruto; even though he wasn't sure he fully understood it. He understood enough though, to tell that he felt insulted to be treated like a dog. He stood up and stomped over to Sasuke until they were about a nose length apart from each other. Sasuke immediately noticed that they were roughly the same height, give or take a centimeter, and that Naruto's body seemed a lot more toned than his. But it wasn't imposing enough to make the young Uchiha flinch even slightly as he stood his ground.

"Well as an Uzumaki, I'm not going to let you talk to me like I'm worth less than you. If you want a fight, I'll be happy to give one to you!"

Sasuke silently took a few steps back and mimicked a fighting stance he saw his brother use once during training. His knees bend and his feet pointed outward at a 45 degree angle. He leaned his body back enough to support most of his weight on his back leg. He put his fists in fort of his body and slightly below and in front of his chest.

Naruto snorted and fell back as well, nervously hopping from one leg to the other. The two of them glared at each other waiting for an unofficial signal to start their fight.

When a leaf twirled through the air and landed between them, Sasuke shot forward and tried to punch Naruto. Naruto with his fast reflexes blocked the punch, but fumbled with the follow up kick. As a result, Sasuke's foot his Naruto in the chest knocking him back a few paces. Sasuke smirked at him, but Naruto's mask made it hard for Sasuke to know if that kick had any effect whatsoever. Naruto stood up slowly and used bursts of chakra to storm at Sasuke even faster than he had at him. Naruto punched him in the gut with his right, punched him in the cheek with his left, grabbed his head and kneed Sasuke in the face. Sasuke immediately flew up and backwards from the force and landed on his back in the grass with a dull thud. The last the Uchiha saw of the boy was a pair of crystal-blue eyes looking down on him in pity. That's when his world faded to black.

---

After the fight, Naruto sat by Sasuke until the boy woke up. The masked blonde grimaced when he looked at the damage done to the Uchiha. Sasuke's cheek was swollen and he sported a black eye. Naruto felt his own cheek, subconsciously fingering the bruises he received from the times he got smacked around by the adults that hated him.

"_I can't believe that worked…" _he thought to himself. _"Using chakra to sprint…it's probably something all shinobi use."_

He smiled at the thought. Maybe he _was_ on the right track after all. A glance in Sasuke's direction put a frown on his face. Before they fought, he never considered the possibility of befriending anyone, but now that they shared a short but intense brawl, he couldn't help but wonder if the boy would forgive him and maybe spar with him from time to time.

"_Is that what it's like to have a friend?"_

Sasuke stirred and groaned. When he came to, he saw those same blue eyes looking at him. He didn't need to know what his face looked like to read his expression; guilt.

"…you won didn't you?"

"Yeah you were knocked out for like two minutes."

"…kuso…" Sasuke cursed and sat up. He felt the bruises on his face, winced and cursed again.

"Hey don't feel bad about it. If I didn't use chakra to overpower you, I wouldn't have won because I was exhausted when you showed up."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Sasuke muttered.

"Hey…no hard feelings, right?" Naruto said as he stood up and offered Sasuke his hand to help him up. Sasuke looked at it and accepted the offer.

"Sure…no hard feelings." He replied trying hard to suppress the malice in his voice.

"How did you use chakra anyway? I didn't know you were supposed to be able to use it until you are older."

"I don't think I have a lot of chakra, but Kakashi-san taught me about it. The rest…I just asked around about it until I knew enough."

Sasuke smiled weakly at him, and if he didn't have a mask to hide it, Naruto would've returned the gesture.

"You must be smart to teach yourself about something as difficult as chakra." He turned his head away trying to keep what was left of his crippled ego. "Can you…teach me?"

Narto tilted his head trying to look like he was thinking it over carefully. Meanwhile Sasuke was sweating bullets.

"Sure," Naruto chirped after a short while. "On one condition…"

"…what's the condition?"

"That you'll be my friend."

Now Sasuke wasn't the type to actually befriend others if he didn't feel that it didn't benefit him, so all in all he considered the option a fair trade. He'd pretend to be the boy's friend until he got out of him what he needed. No, young Sasuke wasn't entirely against manipulation. He shot Naruto a wry smile.

"Sure, I'll be your friend…Naruto."

Looking at Naruto's smiling eyes; Sasuke had a hard time suppressing his glee. He'd never see it coming.

---

It was almost like making a deal with the devil. He knew he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions about the boy the minute he made the deal. He assumed the boy would take their newfound friendship seriously enough not to read Sasuke's intentions. He was wrong. He assumed that he could learn how to use chakra and be done with the whole bit. Wrong again. He never even figured he'd be spending as much time with the blonde as he had now and _enjoy_ it. That's where the trouble began.

As Naruto casually summed up a number of his most successful pranks, he became interested. Then, when Naruto happened to mention a prank that would need two people to work, he figured he might as well enjoy himself if he was going to hang around the prankster all day long. So when Naruto filled him in on the details of the plan he actually felt pretty enthusiastic about it. It just sounded…so right and on point…and it still didn't explain how he got stuck on a roof with a big bucket of orange paint waiting for the first cop to come out of the Military Police Corps building.

Naruto was conveniently nowhere to be found.

Sasuke cursed when he saw his third cousin twice removed Inabi munching on some pocky, unable to notice the impending doom hanging over his head. Now all he had to do was tip the bucket over and…run for it? It _really_ didn't sound that good now that he's had a chance to think it over some. He thought carefully over the entire plan again, unaware of the fact that he let the bucket go.

"_I wonder where the fox-brat went. Haven't seen him in a while. Knowing him he's probably planning some big pran-" _Were Inabi's last thoughts before the bucket hit him in the back of his head. He fell unconscious after the bucket's lid popped off and spilled paint all over his pocky.

Sasuke sweatdropped.

"_I thought he was supposed to be an elite Uchiha. Some ninja…couldn't even sense a bucket landing on his skull…"_

He snickered and fled from the scene, unaware of his father tracking him running across the roof.

"…_This thing has Uzumaki's signature all over it…" _Fugaku thought to himself and grimaced.

---

Naruto's training was progressing with leaps and bounds. After a week, he could run, walk and virtually skip his way all up and down the tree. He was happily skipping his way over to Ichiraku Ramen to get his fill of the day. He ignored the people's stares as he practically dove into the ramen stand and sat at the counter.

"Ayame-chaaan!" he yelled, startling the poor girl almost dropping the bowl of ramen in her hands. She glared at the boy and huffed at him.

"Naruto! You scared me half to death!" she scolded.

"Ehh..sorry…" He rubbed his neck sheepishly.

Her expression softened as she looked at him. Since she saw him the first time with that facemask he changed a lot, although he was still loud at times. He looked dirty and his clothes were torn in some places, but the blonde obviously didn't care. His mask's fabric stretched into the shape of the wide grin beneath it. She smiled at him in response. Her father often told her he's a good kid, and her father has always been an excellent judge of character.

"So what'll it be today?"

He struck his 'thinking pose', crossing his arms and closing his eyes for concentration.

"I'll start off with a beef ramen and then I'll have some red bean soup."

She smiled as she jotted down the order and disappeared into the kitchen.

Naruto spun around on his barstool and put his hands behind his back. He frowned at the empty stand before him. Apparently, the citizens of Konoha didn't appreciate the fine texture and rich flavor of ramen, but he'd change that when he'll become Hokage. He chuckled evilly. Oh indeed, change that he would.

Before his chuckling could escalate into a full-blown mad cackle, his ramen was put on the bar. He immediately dove into it, only removing his mask for the split-seconds he needed to inhale his ramen by the pound. He stopped abruptly as someone sat down on the stool next to him.

"Fwa? Fwafuke?" He swallowed the mouthful of ramen.

"Whats up? Haven't seen you after _the plan_. Did it work out?"

Sasuke said nothing and only glared at him.

"What?"

"You said I wouldn't get caught."

"You wouldn't have if you followed my instructions."

"My dad caught me sprinting across the roof!"

"You were supposed to use a rope and tie it to the door so it could be triggered by the same idiot that walked through."

"I can't rig it like _that_!"

"Then you should've told me. Not my fault you're incompetent."

"Gah! You're a pain in the ass!"

"And you're ruining lunch what's your point?"

Sasuke was about ready to tear his raven locks off.

"Did you come here to start an argument or is there a point to wasting my time?"

Sasuke gave him a leveled glare that Naruto returned with indifference.

"From now on, we're not friends, we're not acquaintances, we're nothing!" he screeched. His face turned beet-red as Naruto took the time during his little rant, to fish out a book from his pouch that Kakashi gave him once, and started reading it.

"Hn? You say something?"

Sasuke tried, with all his might, to stop himself from strangling Naruto then and there. He counted to ten, realized it didn't work, counted backwards and sighed.

"From now on we're nothing but rivals to each other."

Naruto looked up from his book and his eyes crinkled happily.

"I could use a good rival, and I sure miss kicking your ass."

An arrogant smirk made its way slowly across Sasuke's face.

"Then you're just going to have to learn to live without it."

At that, the young Uchiha turned on his heel and marched out of the stand.

"Tch…he didn't even buy any ramen…"

Teuchi the ramen chef looked at the Uchiha's retreating figure with much disdain, muttering something about cop-lovers and window-shopping.

"Oji-san, more ramen please!" Naruto yelled after finishing his second bowl.

The old ramen chef chuckled goodheartedly as he dropped another bowl on the counter. At least he could count on the loyal customers.

---

In a dim-lit chamber, several people were gathered around a round table. The leaf symbol of Konoha was emblazoned in each chair that sat around it. There was a tension in the air as they breached a very sensitive subject. Some of these high-placed officials and representatives were exchanging weary glances at one another, but there was only one whose eyes burned with a fiery intensity, testament of his position in this meeting. He was the Third Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

"So the vessel is ready for the academy already?"

"Yes, his apprenticeship to Hatake Kakashi has paid off. He's probably at the genin level already. I must say, that was quite a risk Sandaime-sama."

"I believe it was worth it. He will grow strong whether he's held back or stimulated. Personally I believe the village would prosper more if we utilize someone with this potential."

"The only other person I've seen with this much growth is Hatake himself, and maybe Uchiha Itachi."

"My son is every bit the genius he's hailed for. He will bring great pride to the Leaf. Have you considered my proposal Sandaime-sama?"

"Yes and although I don't think a position in the ANBU would do someone his age any good, he's considerably more mature than others in his age group."

"Indeed the Uchiha may very well have a legend on their hands. I support Fugaku-san's propos-."

Suddenly someone brought a fist down on the table with enough power to crack the massive oakwood.

"I do _not_ want that demon running around learning how to kill us more efficiently. He is a _danger _to everyone in this village."

"…"

"Sandaime-sama? What's your opinion?"

"Uzumaki Naruto is a danger to anyone foolish enough to doubt his loyalty or compassion. The boy has not shown any signs of being tainted by the demon sealed within him. If anything, it's a miracle he's still smiling with the treatment he's given."

"We can't control the villagers even though they know the truth. They're going to keep hating him until he's dead or proves them wrong, which is very unlikely."

"He's a thieving jester, but I would never resort to calling him a demon. True, the Kyuubi's power he holds is unfathomable, but it's not _him_. Furthermore, I want him to grow stronger. He may make a fine MP in future."

"Heh, we all know the reason you want him to grow is to make him a challenging rival for your youngest son, Fugaku. Typically Uchiha, so infatuated with strength…"

"Hiashi-san, this meeting is no place to settle clan disputes. Now about the boy. According to Hatake's report on him he already basically has what it takes to be a genin. All he really needs is a little more education. I say we enroll him so he can learn to be a proper Konoha shinobi"

"I second that, Homura-sama has displayed some amazing insight before."

"Same here. I want him on active duty as soon as possible. Besides, if he dies it'll be no loss for us. This is a good opportunity."

"I disapprove of this. He'll betray us in the end, I'm sure of it."

"We already know your stand on this Hiashi-san. Everybody for moving Uzumaki on to the academy raise your hands."

Several hands shot up to which the Sandaime chuckled.

"Naruto is a good boy. The fact that he's been able to carry the Kyuubi for seven years without being influenced speaks volumes of that."

"We'll let his accomplishments speak for him for now. But if there's even the slightest trace of the Kyuubi's influence, this council _will_ take action Sarutobi-sama. Keep an eye on the vessel."

"This meeting is adjourned." Sandaime spoke in a sharp tone. He left before anyone got the chance to even get out of their seats.

"_I hope I'm making the right decision here Arashi-kun, but I have faith in Naruto."_

---

And so time moved on in Konohagakure no Sato. As Kakashi kept pushing Naruto whenever he had the time to spare, so did his would-be classmates push theirselves in preparation for the rest of their lives as active shinobi. When the entrance exams were being held at Elementary School, Naruto passed and got accepted into the Ninja Academy of the Fire Country at age 7 and, as promised by Kakashi, learned his first jutsu, the Shunshin no Jutsu.

Since that was Naruto's rite of passage and Kakashi would soon become a full-time Jounin sensei, the two of them thought that it would be fun if they did something together before Naruto got into the academy and Kakashi would get harder and longer missions and there wouldn't be any time left for them to spend with eachother. Unfortunately Naruto's opinion of 'fun' was skewed up to the point that Kakashi had to lecture him on how super-glue, porn magazines and sleeping chuunin guards were _not_ a good combination.

Kakashi, at this point, had to admit to himself that he was a cool and laid-back kinda guy that knew how to take a load off and had a way with the ladies. Exactly how he came to this conclusion could only be attributed to the mysterious workings of the obsessive mind, but it was the way he thought about that. Naturally, a cool and laid-back guy like him could find something entertaining for them?

His genius got him no farther than a 'stroll around town', to which Naruto only agreed because he was promised good ramen.

"So the academy starts in a week…" Kakashi started with an air of nonchalance with his masked nose buried in pornography.

"Yeah…" Naruto replied with an equally apathetic tone that he sometimes adopted when he spoke to Kakashi.

"Do you have your school…stuff?" The Jounin inquired.

"Most of it…I guess…Hokage oji-san send me some money and a list to take care of that."

"Ah I see…" Kakashi trailed off not wanting to pry yet curious at the same time.

A moment of silence followed. Then Naruto asked, "Do you want to buy that stuff now by any chanc-"

"I mean, we just happen to be strolling down _the_ shinobi centre of the country. It would be a waste if I didn't spend my precious time teaching a brat the difference between shuriken and kunai." Kakashi interrupted him. Naruto nearly face-vaulted, but he held his composure.

"Good idea maybe you can teach me the difference between perverts and criminals while you're at it…"

BONK

"ITAI! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

The sight of the Jounin's 'happy eye' almost made Naruto pounce him in an all-out frenzy of rage. Damn him and his lazy eye!

"Smart mouthing your elders isn't polite Naruto-_chan_. Maybe I should rethink this while I still ca-"

"Okay okay jeez." Naruto apologized quickly before Kakashi could finish that sentence. Naruto rubbed the sore spot on his head with a slight smile on his face. For all the Jounin's shortcomings, he still took the time to attempt something not quite unlike raising Naruto and for that, he'd always be grateful, even if he was a damn pervert. Cool, he'd give him that, but lecherous to the bone.

"So what are we gonna do now?"

Kakashi glanced at his outfit with a critical look in his eye. The orange…sweet kami the orange…

"We're going to get you some new clothing. Probably something light and easy to wear and. Also, let's see if we can interest you in some colors more…ninja friendly." Kakashi said with barely disguised disgust in his voice.

"But I like orange…" Naruto muttered with his head hung low.

"_Unfortunately…"_ Kakashi thought to himself.

"After that we'll see what equipment and tools we can set you up with ok?"

Naruto's face visibly lit up under his mask. He gave Kakashi a mock salute followed by an 'OSU!' and ran to the first tailor he spotted.

---

Three hours and a wallet-load later, Kakashi was eying Naruto's new wardrobe with interest. As Naruto was adamant about keeping _some _orange in his clothing, he bought Naruto an orange short-sleeved sweater with a hood. The edges were black and on his back he had a large black swirl with the kanji for fire under it. His cargo denim were light but sturdy and also, for the sake of blending in as a shinobi as Kakashi commented, of a black color. They were baggy and taped off at his ankles. Just to spite him, Kakashi also threw in a pair of black sandals, claiming all other colors were sold out.

"You look good," he commented after a moment of silence passed.

Naruto's eyes crinkled happily. He tugged at his new clothes for a while before assuming a casual pose that would've put any regular self-absorbed bishounen to shame.

"I still think my arms look a little scrawny…"

Kakashi crouched down to eye-level with Naruto and ruffled his hair a little.

"Don't worry about that. If you eat plenty and healthy you'll grow some impressive muscles like me someday."

"…but your arms look thin too." Naruto stated with a look of disbelief in his eyes. Kakashi sweat-dropped and then chuckled good-heartedly.

When he whipped out an orange book and started walking, Naruto snapped back in focus and followed him immediately.

"So what's next Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi flinched but managed not to miss a beat in his step.

"First, we know each other too long for you to still call me Kakashi-san." Naruto snickered. He only did it because he knew Kakashi didn't like being addressed so formally by his close friends.

"And second, you're getting some decent tools, and then a nice big dinner to celebrate your entrance into the academy."

"At Ichiraku?" Naruto asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes. Kakashi chuckled and ruffled his hair again without looking away from his book.

"Of course Naruto, no ramen is worth it more than Teuchi-san's."

That's all the Jinchuuriki needed to hear for him to practically bounce with joy. Kakashi chuckled some more and a light blush spread over his face. When Naruto noticed, his personality did a complete 180 as he turned sullen all of a sudden.

"_Damn pervert…" _he muttered.

----

And that, as they say, was that. After they ended the day with a ramen-eating-without-showing-what's-behind-your-mask contest, the two went about their own way after a dramatic and uncomfortable farewell.

Naruto and Kakashi more or less lost contact after that, only seeing each other occasionally, but for Naruto who never had someone in his life before meeting the Jounin, just looking back at how much Kakashi cared for him was enough to drive the loneliness away. After all, he did gain a teacher and a friend in Kakashi. As for Kakashi, well, looking after Naruto definitely made him feel more alive than he had after the Kyuubi's attack, or perhaps after the war period. His scars ran deeper though and as an elite shinobi he had ultimately chosen death as his mistress.

Naruto's days in the academy were spent learning, training and ostracizing himself from his classmates after trying and failing numerous times to befriend them. Even the occasional prank wasn't worth more than his obsession with the title Hokage, even if they did draw a few merry chuckles. His classmates found him hauntingly mysterious, as they too have been warned by their parents to avoid him like the plague. Pretty soon they started forgetting about him, as he appeared to be just another person in class. His masked visage lost in a crowd of brawly ninja wannabees and quiet and self-composed prospects. He had become what he thought would tear him apart; invisible to all, even though he couldn't bring himself to care much nowadays. In his final year, the rest of his class could hardly remember his name, a name that would seen be on everybody's lips as the graduation exams were nearing. That was when Uzumaki Naruto started taking his first steps to greatness.

* * *

A/N: Well that was chapter 2. I don't have any beta-readers so any mistakes you can find are either minor or can be chalked up to the fact that English is my second language. 

Anyway I consulted friends, complete strangers and my idiot little brother and decided to throw away their advice and write this how I wanted it be. I realize most of you won't care, but I feel obliged to let it be known that I've been struggling with the story somewhat. The result should be satisfactory for most of us, and for those who don't like it...well there's always the option of writing your own. Just don't do drugs or plagiarism because both can have some nasty effects on your stories.

To answer a few questions, I do plan on having Naruto wear a mask for at least through his genin year(s?). He might turn out a little (read: very) OOC, but since I like canon-Naruto so much he will have his...moments. Also, as far as pairings go...when I started this story Naruto was five (a few hours old if you want to be a nitpicker...but who'd want that right?). As of the end of this chapter he's 12, the same as he was at the start of the manga. I don't intend on having the story focus on a love connection just yet because...well you can name any reason you want, I just won't.

Next chapter should be finished by July 18th. As usual, please Read & Review.


	3. In the shadow of the fox

**disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.**  
**

**Chapter Three:** In the shadow of the fox

It was noon and the elderly Sandaime Hokage was enjoying a nice bit of quality time together with a cloth and his paintbrush. He found that, at his old age, he needed to stimulate his brain's activity by doing something creative for at least a few hours every day. The senile old coo-, err, respectably aged leader was blissfully writing the words 'honor' and 'duty' on a set of cloth's he'd been planning to give to his grandson, when a chuunin stormed in and started ranting hysterically about an unknown person desecrating the Hokage monument.

"_Not even a few hours of me-time…"_ Sandaime thought to himself as he threw on the official robe and hat of his post. He followed the still hyperventilating messenger boy to the balcony beneath his office where a small crowd was gathered already trying to figure out what the person with the bucket of orange paint thought he could get away with. Said person turned his head and smiled broadly at the Hokage, before continuing his act of vandalism. The Hokage's eye twitched as the vandal skillfully wrote the symbol "ancient" on the face of the Third's sculpture. The plain looking brunette smirked at his work and threw both hands in the air spilling paint on himself.

"Only somebody as magnificent as me can do something like this. I'm invincible!"

The Hokage's eye twitched again and he turned to the academy teacher that appeared next to him.

"Uzumaki Naruto is missing from class." The teacher stated simply.

"Oh." Was the Hokage's reply as realization dawned on him.

"I wasn't aware that he could perform a Henge this skillfully Umino-san. It's quite a sharp contrast to your reports."

Iruka would sweat bullets by now if he was anything but a shinobi.

"The extent of his skill doesn't go any further than his display of pranks."

"Is that an insult Iruka-sensei?" a silky voice behind them replied to that.

Both Hokage's and Iruka's heads turned abruptly and they looked straight into the masked face of Uzumaki Naruto, whom returned it with a look of indifference. He pointed at the figure on the Hokage Monument who was still painting away with a blissful grin on his face.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but, do the brown-haired, black-eyed kid up there and I really look so much alike?"

Iruka silently swore. He came so close to catching him and yet he completely failed…again. The 'champion prankster' outwitted him…again. He looked at the vandal on the Hokage Monument again. At least he thought it was the champion prankster. Kami forbid if that was a copycat up there. Soon there'd be an invasion of Naruto-wannabees overrunning Konoha with annoying pranks and shit-eating grins. He'd have a nervous breakdown for sure.

"Hey he's running!" one of the spectators suddenly shouted. Everybody looked up and sure enough found the vandal sprinting up the steep face of the Fourth. Some of the shinobi present tried to pursue him, but found nothing but ninja smoke where they thought he had gone to. Iruka had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach and turned slowly to find the Naruto behind him gone.

"It seems there's no real way of telling if it was Naruto or not." The Hokage replied dryly.

"He still has to go back to the academy. There's no reason why I can't outrun him." Iruka muttered and he took off…only to get held back by the Hokage.

"Iruka…" Iruka gulped. If the Hokage didn't felt the need to use honorifics then this'd probably be a very, very serious talk.

"It seems to me you have hidden some of the boy's progress from me. That's quite a feat to hide something like that from me in my own village. That, however, is the only positive thing about this…situation."

Iruka gulped again. This was going to get really ugly.

---

When Iruka entered his classroom, it was as if time stood still. All the students were doing pretty much the same thing they were when he left. He glanced at Naruto's seat and found him asleep with his head on his desk, just like the Bunshin he left behind earlier. The Hokage was right. If Naruto was skillful enough to fool him, the entire class and a good number of shinobi then there was no reason why someone that good shouldn't be able to prove his worth to the village as a genin, even if he is _that_ boy.

"Class! Pop-quiz today!" The entire class groaned.

"Take a look at the person sitting left of you, or if you're in the last seat in the row, the person in the first seat of the row." Everybody did so. Naruto even opened one eye sleepily to glance at Kiba and shut it immediately.

"I want all of you to come down here one by one and use the Henge no Jutsu to transform yourselves into the person you just had to look at. Starting from top row to bottom row from my left. Go!"

One by one the students formed a neat line to display their use of the Henge no Jutsu. When it was Naruto's turn, he created one Bunshin and had it transform into Akamaru as he transformed into Kiba. The Akamaru Bunshin ran around Naruto in a frenzy until it jumped into Naruto's jacket. Naruto proceeded to do a 'dumb-Kiba' expression complete with a puzzled look on his face. The class laughed but Iruka quickly shut them up.

"Naruto, when did I tell you to include anything besides the person left of you in your transformation?"

"You didn't." Naruto dead-panned.

"Then why did you include his dog in the transformation? You know he can't bring pets to school"

Naruto pretended to think about it knowing that would piss Iruka-sensei off even more, and finally answered, "I thought it would make the transformation more realistic sensei."

"Yeah well next time, don't think just do. Next!"

"Then how about _this_ transformation?"

Iruka was about to yell at Naruto until he heard the words 'Oiroke no Jutsu'. His jaw fell to the floor and he was propelled backwards by a jet of blood surging from his nose. He yelled at Naruto only to find the boy turning his back on him. The class laughed again at the display.

Naruto walked back to his seat and sat down next to a seething Kiba trying to hide Akamaru from the eyes of his teacher.

'I'll get you for that you snitch!' Kiba hissed at Naruto who's only response to that was to shrug indifferently.

Class went on and Naruto slept through most of it, already having sat through the same classes twice. If Iruka didn't have something against him, he probably would've graduated years ago, or so he figured. At first he didn't realize, but the more time passed the more it seemed Iruka made the extra effort of degrading, insulting and holding back Naruto in every academic way possible. It seemed that this year, he'd have to do something drastic if he wanted to pass.

But as Naruto was making plans, Iruka was making some of his own.

"_Hokage-sama was right, Naruto is a natural at combining techniques. He can perform both the Bunshin and the Henge no Jutsu without hand seals and create a Bunshin and a Henge in one go. Dammit I can't hold him back any more. Any longer and he'll either become homicidal or a manic depressive. Neither is good for the village in the long run. I might even have to apologize to the brat after all this."_

As the bell rang, all the students got up and packed their stuff with lightning-speed, not wanting to wait another second for their mother's home-cooking. Naruto silently made his way out of the academy like he did everyday. When he saw Kiba approaching, he hid using a Henge and used Shunshin no Jutsu when he was out of sight. Kiba was left dumbfounded while Akamaru sniffed the ground in confusion.

Unknown to both of them, they were being watched closely by an ANBU with a wolf mask.

---

That night, Naruto ate dinner at Ichiraku as he was used to. He was having light conversation with the waitress Ayame as the bowls kept stacking up. He worked up quite the appetite training himself that night. When Naruto began to talk abnormally loud as he boasted about his prank earlier that day, the curtain parted and an emotionless Umino Iruka stepped into the bar.

"So it _was_ you." He said in an emotionless voice.

Naruto froze and Ayame looked at the two in confusion before shrugging and went back to cooking more ramen.

"Iruka-sensei…"

Iruka sat down beside Naruto and ordered some ramen. He turned to glare at Naruto long and hard.

"_Those eyes…"_ Naruto thought as he looked down in guilt.

"You haven't made my life easier you know." Iruka commented dryly.

"The Hokage chewed me out just for accusing you for that little stunt of yours." Naruto couldn't help but smile under his mask, but Iruka didn't notice.

"Why do you do that sort of thing anyway?"

For a moment it didn't seem like Naruto would answer. He played with his chopsticks for a while and tried not to look directly into Iruka's eyes.

"It's because I have to remind people once in a while that I still exist." The realization hit Iruka, that he knew exactly what Naruto was talking about.

"And also, I like it when people run around in panic trying to find the answers that are right under their noses. It's pretty innocent, but if I don't do a prank every now and then I'd die of boredom."

Iruka sighed heavily with his head in his hands.

"_Naruto…you probably are really just an orphaned kid looking for some attention…"_

"Why the Hokage Monument? Do you know what that means to this village?"

Naruto looked at Iruka with an intensity Iruka didn't know the boy had.

"Because some day I will be the Hokage that surpasses all of them, and when that happens, everyone will acknowledge me for who I am!"

"Yeah…" Iruka said staring into nothingness. On the inside he cursed his soft heart. The demon that killed his parents. The demon that wiped out half the village. Still, there was something in his gut telling him that Naruto wasn't even close to being anything resembling a demon.

"You know what…" Naruto looked at Iruka with interest. "Tomorrow could be your last graduation if you play your cards right. I'll pay the bill tonight, but you've got to promise to prove to me tomorrow that you have what it takes to become Hokage."

Naruto looked at him suspiciously not trusting the whole bit.

"Why would you do this for me?"

Iruka grimaced. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. Would he lie to the boy? The truth would probably be better.

"Hokage-sama wants you to and I am also curious of what you have learned under my tutelage all these years."

Naruto scoffed but couldn't suppress the grin under his mask, and stuck his hand out.

"Deal!" he said with enthusiasm.

They shook hands and as soon as they let go, Naruto bolted.

"HEEY!" Iruka yelled. The he turned around and turned gray as he saw 12 bowls stacked on top of each other. Dear Kami that kid had an appetite. Ayame smiled sweetly at him as she handed him the bill. Iruka could only grumble in response.

---

When Naruto woke up the next morning, he went through his usual routine. He undressed, showered, brushed his teeth, flossed, combed his wild hair (even though he only managed to break the comb), and gazed in the mirror.

Ever since he pestered Kakashi into showing him what exactly was behind his forehead protector, Naruto became interested in bloodline limits. Kakashi told him about the Uchiha clan's Sharingan, but when he asked the Jounin where he got his from, all he would say was that it was another story for another time.

But staring at his own unnatural blue eyes, he started to wonder if maybe it was some sort of latent bloodline or indication to where he was really from, because he'd only seen one other family in Konoha with blond hair and blue eyes, and they made it clear that he was not part of them. Maybe, if he had some way to awaken a powerful bloodline, wouldn't people accept and respect him like they did the Hyuuga and Uchiha clan? He never needed an approval for his existence before, so why did the thought of that sound so tempting?

His reflection taunted him with the sight of his whisker-marks, something that made him proud and unique and yet something he had to cover up to avoid incidents in his own village. Naruto scoffed. If it wasn't for Kakashi and the old man, he'd probably left a long time ago. But there was always the fact that this was his home, and if anything he was probably too stubborn to be chased out of the village his parents died in.

He trailed his whisker marks with a finger, knowing that they were the only scars on his body. Even the brutal abuse he suffered as a little child didn't leave him with anything but pain in his soul. They were there for a reason, but whatever that reason was the Hokage wouldn't let him in on it. The old fart probably thought it was for his protection. He put his facemask on in a solemn mood, when his mind started to form an idea. If he did possess anything like a doujutsu, he'd probably have to mold chakra in his eyes. He formed a half-ram seal and started collecting and molding the chakra behind his retina, only for nothing to happen. He sighed and tried it over again, when his eyes fell on the seal that formed on his stomach. He gasped in shock as he looked down on his belly to find an exotic seal which looked like it had been there all along. He never molded chakra or used any jutsu with his shirt off before, so for all he knew it could be quite possible that he's been carrying the seal all his life. Curiosity overcame him and he started molding chakra behind the seal, and used some impressive control of chakra to trace the seal with chakra on the tip of his finger. That's when all hell broke loose and darkness overcame him. He could feel himself getting pulled deep inside of him where a lingering and evil presence made itself known to him by cackling and growling at the same time, making a sound as smooth and subtle as an air horn in the ear. The last thing he remembered were two giant menacing looking crimson colored eyes that emanated a fierce amount of killing intent. Naruto was out cold and shaking in a matter of minutes.

He woke up disoriented and trembling badly. He was practically sweating bullets, but he hauled himself up to his feet none the less. His gaze flickered to the seal on his stomach once more, now more than ever convinced that there was something _seriously_ wrong with him. Certain things were starting to make some vague sort of sense to him now. That was the moment he decided to study the workings of that seal and have a nice long talk with the Hokage. He glanced at his wall clock, completely baffled that he'd spent at least twenty minutes out cold. He and the Hokage would talk, after he'd passed that damn exam.

---

Naruto sat in class looking more downtrodden than usual. After waking up from his incident with the seal, he was sore all over and he found controlling his chakra to be nigh impossible. The whole class looked anxious as Iruka finally announced the order in which the tests would be taken. Time progressed slowly as one by one the students were being called into the next room. By the time Iruka got to Naruto's name, he was in so much pain that he slumped out of his seat and half-dragged his sorry ass to the front of the classroom. He dolefully strolled into the next room, where Mizuki and Iruka were sitting behind a desk with a whole array of headbands in front of them. Naruto grimaced under his mask.

"Now Naruto," Iruka started. "If you will, perform for us the Bunshin no Jutsu. We want you to make three identical copies of yourself."

No sooner had he said that or Naruto's hands rapidly formed a string of hand seals.

"BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" he shouted and the area filled with smoke. As soon as the smoke let down, four identical Naruto's stood in front of the two teachers.

"Is this a joke Naruto?" Iruka asked seriously.

Naruto looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

"You can do better than that right? Two of your clones don't even look like you and the other looks like he's better off finding a hole to die in."

Naruto turned around and sure enough, two of his bunshin were too obese to be counted as human beings, and the other looked so famished and fragile like it was something straight out of a cheesy horror movie.

"It was a slight slip-up Mizuki sensei. It's hard to focus on every detail when you make multiple copies right? I did good for an academy student…I think. If you don't like it I can do it again."

Iruka sighed heavily. "You can't fool a child with that. It'd be irresponsible of me to put you on active duty, if you can't even do the Bunshin no Jutsu properly."

A sense of dread hang over Naruto as the atmosphere in the room subtly changed.

"You fail!"

And that was that. Naruto cursed and punched the ground.

"Iruka-sensei, Naruto did create the proper amount of clones. Even as an academy student, he's done better than somebody his age would." Mizuki said with a silky voice.

"Unacceptable." Iruka said. "Everybody got it right the first time, and those who didn't failed as well. I can't give you any second chances just because you lost concentration. On a real mission there'll be no time for correcting mistakes 'cause mistakes will cost you the life of your teammates and your own. I'm sorry Naruto but you're just going to have to try-"

But Naruto ran out of the classroom before Iruka could finish that sentence. When he came outside, he saw the large number of people gathered to congratulate their children. Not much got to Naruto these days, but seeing all the support they got and all the support he was currently lacking was a little bit too much for him and he sulked off in silence, shrugging off the disapproving glares he got along the way.

Whatever he did to that seal, it completely messed with his chakra control. It was even worse than when he first started using chakra. He should've asked Kakashi about it first. He shouldn't have played around with seals. Even Kakashi admitted once that he wasn't that knowledgeable when it came to seals, and here he thought he could just play around with it without consequence. He should've known better. Hell he was lucky to still be alive.

Mizuki followed him from a distance, smirked, and called him over with a serious look on his face.

---

A couple of hours and a perverted jutsu later, Naruto found himself sneaking across rooftops wondering what technique there could possibly be in the scroll that could make him pass. He ran across rooftops swiftly and managed to do so without making a sound. As he made his way to the clearing Mizuki told him about and opened the scroll, realization hit him like a ton of bricks. There was the first technique, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. A prankster's dream. Immediately he started practicing the technique without giving much thought to the rest of the scroll.

---

By the time Iruka showed up, Naruto was already looking beat-up from practicing. Naruto eyed Iruka warily as he held the scroll tighter.

"What do you plan on doing with that scroll Naruto?" Iruka asked icily.

Naruto's gaze that moment said more than words between the two passed. He obviously didn't trust Iruka, or the whole situation for that matter. Mizuki showing up out of the blue and just happening to know another way for him to pass seemed convenient, but was a too good offer to pass up at the time. Naruto decided to confide in Iruka…for the moment.

"Mizuki-sensei told me to learn a technique from this scroll and show it to you so I could graduate."

And something clicked inside Iruka's head. He pushed Naruto out of the way of incoming kunai and took the attack head-on. Mizuki was crouching on a branch in full battle outfit.

"Nice job in finding him…" he commented dryly. Iruka suddenly understood perfectly.

"Naruto give me the scroll." Mizuki ordered the boy who gave him an incredulous look.

"DON'T GIVE HIM THAT SCROLL NARUTO EVEN IF YOU DIE! IT HAS FORBIDDEN NINJUTSU IN IT! MIZUKI USED YOU TO GET HIS HANDS ON IT!"

Mizuki just stood on that branch smirking at the two of them.

"Naruto, you have no use for that thing so I'll tell you the truth…"

"NO DON'T!" Iruka yelled

"You know about the demon fox that attacked Konoha twelve years ago right? It wasn't killed but sealed. Ever since, there was a secret rule created that was meant never to be told to you."

Naruto didn't reply, but he knew enough that all of it somehow related to him.

"The rule was that you were never to be told that you are the demon fox Kyuubi that attacked our village twelve years ago."

"That's a lie!" Naruto hissed.

"Is it? What about the villagers' treatment? The truth is that you are the demon fox that killed your Iruka-sensei's parents and you were sealed up by the Fourth Hokage."

"STOP IT!" A hysterical Iruka yelled, but his words were lost on Naruto and Mizuki.

"Just think about it, the cold glares, the hurtful treatment, and the abuse…" Mizuki trailed off with a smirk plastered on his face. Naruto fingered his cheek and slowly touched his ribs where he got wounded after someone beat him senseless, only to wake up the next morning feeling no different than the day before. So that was the reason…he had to admit, as far as reasons go, it was a fairly good one.

"Iruka is the same you know! He actually hates you!" Mizuki yelled finally as he spun his large shuriken behind his back. Naruto, in his anger, started gathering chakra like crazy.

"_Dammit!" _He thought. _"Dammit Dammit Dammit!"_

Iruka started reminiscing about his talk with the Hokage after graduation ended that day. He remembered the Hokage telling him that Naruto wasn't the result of the Kyuubi being sealed, but rather the object that the demon had been sealed in. And try as he might, Iruka couldn't find a demonic bone in Naruto's body even with how much he wanted to disagree with the Hokage. All this time whenever he thought he saw the demon, it was nothing but the lonely boy Naruto really was. He felt ashamed and helpless now that they had no chance of escaping the wrath of the former teacher Mizuki. He opened his eyes in time to see Mizuki throw the shuriken in Naruto's direction, who was still oblivious to everything around him.

CRUNCH

Blood splattered all around Naruto, but when he dared to open his eyes all he saw was Iruka's tear-filled face looking down on him in guilt. Iruka had jumped in to take the hit, which was meant for him, even though he was the Kyuubi.

"Why?" Naruto stammered in shock.

"My…after my parents died there was nobody to compliment me or acknowledge me. I used to do stupid things and act like an idiot to get attention, since I couldn't get along well in school anyway. It was so painful…"

Iruka started crying as he thought back on his childhood.

"You must have been in a lot of pain too haven't you Naruto? I'm sorry for mistreating you…if I had seen you for what you are sooner then this wouldn't have happened…"

Naruto gazed at Iruka trying to look past his reasoning, but he couldn't find anything but guilt when reading his eyes. Then he looked at the smirking Mizuki and his mind started flooding with doubt, so he ran.

"Naruto!" Iruka yelled out to him but it was in vain.

"Hehehe…" Mizuki dropped down from his branch. "He won't be back. Naruto isn't the type to have a change of heart. He's going to use that scroll to get revenge on the village."

Mizuki smirked as Iruka struggled to stand up.

"You saw his eyes earlier. They're the eyes of a demon."

Iruka pulled the shuriken from his back and grunted as blood poured from the gaping wound.

"Naruto isn't like that!" He spat.

"Well it doesn't matter now anyways. Right now I'll get the scroll from him and kill him. After that, you're next..." Mizuki said and jumped up into the thick foliage of the forest.

Iruka cursed and took off too.

---

When Naruto ran he had some time to think about it. Mizuki was clearly a traitor to the village. Iruka-sensei had saved his life twice within the hour. He had to help Iruka-sensei defeat Mizuki somehow and get the scroll back to where it belonged. He was still a bit confused about him being the Kyuubi. It would explain a few little things like him never getting sick, but besides that he couldn't think of any way he was related to the demon. Maybe they made a mistake, which was unlikely. No matter how hard he racked his brain for answers, he couldn't come up with any explanation, so when he heard Iruka and Mizuki talking just behind the tree he was hiding behind, he decided to listen in. What he heard wasn't something he expected though.

"Hehe you'd even transform into what killed your parents to protect him?" Mizuki smirked triumphantly as if he'd won a prize.

"I won't hand over the scroll to an idiot like you!" Iruka yelled at the traitor while clutching a wound on his abdomen.

"You're the idiot. Naruto and I are the same."

"The same?"

"If you use the skills in that scroll, you can do whatever you want. There's no way that fox demon wouldn't try to use that power, unlike what you're assuming…"

"Yeah…"

"_Damn I knew it…deep down Iruka-sensei really…doesn't accept me…" _Naruto thought bitterly as he fought back tears.

"The demon fox would do that, but Naruto is different." Iruka said with a sigh, glad to he come to terms with his feelings, as his personal persecution of the Jinchuuriki never sat well with him.

"I've acknowledged him as my most excellent student. He may be distant and his pranks are sometimes downright psychotic, but he's a good kid and he already knows what it's like to feel true pain. I know he'd put the protection of this village above his own life. If he ever was the fox demon, he's not one anymore. He is a true shinobi of the hidden leaf village. He's Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto felt his heart soar at Iruka's proclamation. Not one person in his life ever said something that nice about him and with such sincerity, even accepting him for being the carrier of the Kyuubi. Not even Kakashi mentioned it once, even though Naruto was now pretty sure he knew about it. Now he had one more person he'd give his life for to protect, and that person was getting ready to die to protect _him_. That would simply not do.

Mizuki could only chuckle in response.

"You are a softhearted bastard aren't you?" Mizuki uttered as he turned his cold, steely determined eyes on Iruka. "I think I'd rather kill you right now!"

Mizuki let out a fierce yell as he swung his large shuriken at Iruka.

"_So this is it. I'm going to die." _Iruka thought to himself quietly as he closed his eyes and waited for the deathblow…that never came. His bewildered expression was nothing compared to Mizuki's. Naruto stood in between them, holding the large shuriken that was meant for Iruka. Blue chakra flared as Naruto's gaze bore a hole in Mizuki's.

"Keep your filthy hands off Iruka-sensei!"

Mizuki cackled as he watched Naruto act like he could hurt him.

"Don't be stupid you little brat! I'd kill a punk like you in one shot!"

"Try it trash. I'll return the pain a thousand times over." Naruto said as he grinned and formed a seal.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" he yelled as the entire surrounding area flooded with clones. Once again, Mizuki had a bewildered look on his face which was soon replaced by a look of pure horror. Clones as far as the eye could see, all of them real judging by the way some of them kicked up dust and hung from trees.

"Now, let's get this thing started shall we?"

Mizuki gulped. Chuunin or no chuunin, after mass-genjutsu-ing the guards in the Hokage's Tower and chasing a kid and another teacher through that damn forest, he had nothing to defend him from the wrath of a thousand-plus homicidal brats. He whispered a silent 'be gentle' plea that never reached its destination. His ass would get royally beaten for the next 10 somewhat minutes.

---

"So…Kage Bunshin huh?" Iruka smiled at Naruto who clumsily bandaged his wounds. Naruto closed his eyes in mirth.

"Ne, it's pretty effective don't you think so Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka smiled warmly at the child before untying his forehead protector, despite Naruto's protests and warnings not to move around with those wounds.

"Close your eyes Naruto."

"What for?"

"I have a gift for you, just close them okay?"

"…okay…"

When Naruto opened them, he felt something warm on his forehead. He touched it and let out a surprised yelp when he felt Iruka's old forehead protector.

"Congratulations on graduating Naruto!"

"What? But…how…why?" A shocked Naruto asked him.

"Well since the Kage Bunshin is much more effective than the Bunshin no Jutsu I kinda figure-" Was all Iruka could explain before Naruto tackled him to the ground in gratitude.

In the Hokage Tower, Sandaime smiled at the image in his crystal ball. It seemed like Naruto had grown strong enough to be let loose on the world. The old man sat back in his chair and let out a long sigh. The council had grown displeased when they learned Naruto had been held back by Iruka, even though the Hokage had known for years. He figured he should stop attempting to get Naruto to associate more with the children his age. If the council got wind of his involvement, there'd be a lot of trouble. Still…the old man was confident that whatever power he had left could keep those fools silent at least until Naruto could become Hokage himself. Sandaime hadn't lost hope that someday people would see Naruto for the hero he is instead of a weapon or a demon. He just hoped Naruto would see the value of the lives a Hokage was supposed to protect, before the villagers would do something to mess that up.

"Did you see him?" Sandaime asked after tapping his earpiece.

"Yes I saw." a gruff voice answered on the other side. "He's certainly grown in an interesting way."

Sandaime chuckled. "So does that mean you're interested?"

The voice on the other end laughed before answering, "You could say that. Just trying to see if he's got anything of his old man in him."

"So I should transfer him?"

The voice on the other side was silent for a moment.

"No! I want him to enjoy the tutelage of his Jounin teacher for a while. I'll take him when he's ready."

"Good." Sandaime answered with a sigh of relief. "But what do you want with the Inuzuka?"

"Regretfully Sandaime-sama, that's between me and those boys."

"Alright, I won't question your methods Takemaru-kun, just give me the results."

"As you wish Hokage-sama. Over and out."

---

Late at night, very late at night, the time of night when even the most nocturnal of beings catch themselves getting tired from hunting and foraging, a tall figure hopped stealthily from rooftop to rooftop. It gave off the impression that it was perfectly comfortable with the surrounding darkness and ghastly wind blowing over the village. It had a goal to work towards. It had a target, and it knew that said target doesn't need the few hours of extra sleep normal human beings needed, as they had established that well beforehand.

It back flipped off a particular roof, turned in mid-air, and landed facing the door of an apartment without making a sound. There it knocked on the door twice, before pulling out a little orange book.

"You're late…" a voice spat.

"Yeah, you see I was on a dangerous mission pursued by an organization of evil super-ninjas-"

"Three days Kakashi-san."

Kakashi felt it would probably be safer if he didn't answer.

"You said you'd be there if I'd graduate."

Still no answer from the Jounin.

"You knew all along didn't you?"

At this Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Knew about what Naruto?"

"This morning, I found a seal on my stomach. Kinda strange because as far as I know its not what you would call _normal_. Then I started messing with it, see if I could get it to, oh I don't know, do tricks open a pan-dimensional gate to hell, anything, but did you know what that _pesky_ little seal decided to do to me instead?"

Kakashi slowly shook his head, fearing any sudden movement would get his face chewed off. He was _that_ uncomfortable.

"IT MADE ME FAIL GRADUATION! But that wasn't the bad part oh hell no! What the seal was really there for was to keep a LEGENDARY DEMON SEALED INSIDE OF ME FOR ALL ETERNITY! Oh and here's the real clincher. Turns out the guy that sealed the damn fox inside of me IS THE FRIGGIN- HMff hmmff!"

Kakashi clamped his hand over Naruto's mouth before he could further break a rule most Konoha shinobi dreaded breaking, and dragged him inside of the small apartment.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Naruto yelled at Kakashi once they were inside.

"Do you even know that what you almost did was-"

"Expressing repressed pain and anguish inflicted on me since probably the day I was born? Yeah? So?"

Kakashi gritted his teeth together. He was _not _thetype for the heartfelt conversation.

"Listen Naruto, the only reason I didn't tell you was because there was a rule against discussing all topics concerning _that_. Besides, it's not like you needed that knowledge hanging over you while you were still dealing with growing up in a hostile environment. It wouldn't have made the hatred gone away."

"Maybe not but at least I would've understood. It would've given me something to deal with. Do you know how frustrating it is _not _knowing why you're hated by virtually everyone?

"Yeah maybe you're right…" Kakashi admitted with a sigh. Suddenly his whole demeanor changed. His single eye curved up happily and he clapped his hands together.

"But that's not why I'm here!" He patted Naruto on the back. Hard..

"Congratulations on making genin gaki!"

"…I just passed about 7 hours ago…how would you know?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head in confusion. It was only then that Naruto noticed Kakashi's disheveled clothing and numerous scratches and cuts he had on his outfit.

"…You weren't _really_ pursued by an organization of evil super ninjas were you?"

Kakashi laughed sheepishly and waved it off.

"I might tell you some other time, but I at least want to hear what you meant by graduating just earlier this night."

Naruto nodded and proceeded to debrief the jounin on what happened when he was still on his mission.

"Alright…" the jounin said after much contemplation. "Now that you know, you should have a talk with the Hokage about it."

"Already have." Naruto deadpanned. "He just couldn't tell me anything about the Kyuubi, Yondaime, the reason I was chosen or anything about my parents. Old bastard wouldn't even tell me his favorite flavor of ramen."

Kakashi laughed at that and ruffled Naruto's head a bit which earned him a genuine smile from the boy.

"Anyway, I really only came to give you this for graduating." Kakashi said before pulling a wrapped object from the depths of his pouch. He handed it to the perplexed Naruto who took a long hard stare at the object. After he deduced it was a book, he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. To his surprise it wasn't what he expected it would be. When he saw the cover his face was barely hanging his smile together. The title read 'The Hell Course; a compilation of insane and life-risking theoretic training programs'. Kakashi's single eye closed happily at the sight of his overjoyed little friend doing cartwheels and handstand all around the room.

"Well, I should get going." Kakashi remarked making Naruto pause in his celebration.

"Kakashi-san…I…I…" Naruto fumbled with his words and settled for enveloping the surprised jounin in a strong hug before pulling away in embarrassment.

"_He reminds me of that mini-Gai…"_ Kakashi mused before snapping back to reality.

"Guess I'll be seeing ya." Kakashi said and gave Naruto the two-fingered-too-cool-for-school salute and leaping into the darkness that was Konohagakure no Sato.

* * *

A/N: A very..._very_ late chapter 3. I'll just save everyone the trouble of trying to explain why I was this late. Anyway hope it's worth the trouble of reading. Also special thanks to **plue-sama **for beta-ing. Oh and to answer some questions... 

**Sir Grag: **The Shunshin no Jutsu I'm referring to is the same as the D-rank jutsu most jounin and chuunin know and use. The jutsu you mean is the Hiraishin no Jutsu, which from what I understand is basically a self-summoning jutsu unlike Shunshin which is more or less just a concealed movement jutsu. If you take a good look at that first chapter of the Kakashi arch, you'll see that when he saves Kakashi he appears in a puff of smoke, and afterwards when he moves again it's just an instant movement type thingy since his bag was seen dropping to the floor after he stood behind that Iwa shinobi ready to kill him. /rant>

**Carrot-Six: **Originally they were supposed to become best friends, but that would've messed up the plans I had for Sasuke since him being an avenger is really important for a lot of future events. I'm surprised you noticed my OC though. I know, why give a character a name if you're not gonna use him right? After this chapter there'll probably be no doubt as to what his future role will be. I left a lot of things open since open (like Kakashi not looking out for Naruto suddenly) because it will be explained in later chapters. I suggest you keep tuned.(god that sounds cheesy doesn'it?).

Thanks for all the comments, I really appreciate them. If you have any more, or just flames, give 'em to me! For progress reports and stuff, refer to my LiveJournal at **http/ **


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